Blue Butler
by Siobhan Daley
Summary: Lin Sans'Ame is a demon in the service of Lady Celestia Sans'Ame ordered to use the same last name, even. Both have goals, some romantic, some deadly, all secret. Their increasing involvement with Lord Phantomhive and his butler may lead to buried secrets being unearthed, many of which may put the Young Mistress in danger if the wrong ears were to hear...
1. Her Butler, Clad In Blue

The sun had just barely risen over the horizon, but I was already up and working in the kitchens of the vast Sans'Ame mansion. Ingredients for the day's breakfast were laid out neatly and fully accounted for. Glancing at the clock on the wall, ticking softly, I saw that I would have to be waking my Mistress soon. Wasting no time, I scooped two spoonfuls of tea leaves onto Lady Sans'Ame's favorite pure silver tea pot and filled it with water that had just come down from a boil. I carefully set it down on a silver tray along with a delicate white-and-blue china teacup and saucer. The dark blue tailcoat hanging by the door quickly flew over my vest, tie, and shirt, but remained only partially buttoned due to the fact that it didn't fit over my bust properly. It was a man's coat, after all.  
Without further delay, I picked up the tray and made my way out of the kitchen, climbing several staircases and navigating through the winding hallways to the room where Lady Sans'Ame slept. The door opened without a single sound.  
"My Lady, It is time for you to wake up," I said softly as I set the tray on the bedside table. There was no response from the young noble. "My Lady?" Still, not a single motion. "Oh dear. It seems Lady Sans'Ame plans to sleep all day!" I said with added drama, "I suppose I can't stop her if she wants to, but then she won't be able to drink her favorite tea," The figure under the covers twitched a little, making me grin. "And she won't get to eat any brioche," She flinched again. "And I won't be able to take her out to find a dress for the upcoming soiree." She finally shot up out of bed, her cold blonde hair in astonishing disarray.  
"But you promised to take me out to look for a dress!" Lady Celestia protested, completely abandoning her attempt at appearing asleep.  
"So the Young Mistress is awake after all?" I teased her, "Or is the word 'dress' so exciting to you that you had to wake up?"  
The young noble's eyes narrowed. "Oh, shut up, Lin." I slipped a navy blue silk robe over her white nightgown.  
I buttoned the top closed. "Is that an order?"  
"What do you think?"  
"What I think doesn't matter as long as I serve you, My Lady," I responded politely, "In any case, today's breakfast includes crepes with a sweet raspberry-strawberry filling, light cinnamon French toast, and an option of either mint salad or brioche with honey. Which would you like?"

"I want the brioche today. Once I've finished eating, I want to go out to look for a dress for that soiree."

"As you wish." I finished buttoning the robe I had draped over the small girl's slim shoulders and stood back up to my full height, just barely an inch below six feet. Turning back to the tray I had brought in, I poured a cup of tea for my Young Mistress. "Here is this morning's tea, My Lady."

She smelled the steam rising from the delicate cup, easily recognizing the scent. "Earl Grey, right?"

I smiled pleasantly at her. "That's right. That is a blend of leaves I ordered specially made to fit your tastes."

Lady Celestia's already large, bright blue eyes widened a bit. "You got this just for me? Really?"

"Yes, of course. If I couldn't do this much, I wouldn't be fit to be your butler."

After a fair amount of discussion over the dress Lady Celestia would wear for the day, I eventually decided to bring out a lovely dark blue dress embroidered with silver thread. As I laced up the back, Celestia asked me about her schedule for the day. I responded politely, as always, "Starting at 11:00, you have violin lessons with Mrs. Cambridge. At 12:15, Mrs. Rockfield will teach your piano lessons. Your French class starts at 1:30 with Mr. Begnoche, German at 2:45 with Mr. Freitag, and at 4:00, Mr. Tanaka from the Phantomhive household will be visiting to check in with you about continuing to have Funtom and your company work together."

"Ooh! Mr. Tanaka! I haven't seen him in quite some time!"

I sighed disheartedly at her lack of interest in anyone except Mr. Tanaka. "You really do enjoy working with Earl Phantomhive, don't you, My Lady?"

"Of course I do, Lin," she replied, "If I didn't like Ciel, I probably wouldn't have made a contract with you, would I?"

My eyes shifted from their bluish-violet color to bloody red. "No, probably not."

The rest of the day went very slowly for the Young Mistress. As usual, Lady Celestia struggled through her music theory and stammered through her languages, but, as always, was excited as Mr. Tanaka's expected time of arrival approached. Every ten minutes or so, the impatient young girl would call me to her study to ask if he had arrived yet.

"My Lady," I told her, "If you continually summon me, I won't be able to greet our guests promptly, which would begin to tarnish your reputation as a noble along with mine as a butler. Please try to be patient."

Lady Celestia groaned, "Why is he not here yet?!"

"I will assume that was rhetorical. Shall I wait in the foyer for our guest?" She dropped her head on the desk and simply waved me away. As I made my way back through the twisting hallways laden with paintings, I could clearly hear a series of whispers from around the corner.

"I heard there's a guest coming over," one voice said.

"That means Lin will probably be waiting in the foyer for them," another one pointed out.

"And we can get to our room free and clear!"

"Rose, Violet, Lavender! Where the hell have you been all day?!" The three redheads froze under my looming shadow. "You have duties here, so what on Earth were you doing?!"

Each of them pointed to the others and simultaneously declared, "It was their idea!"

I sighed and told them, "You know what, I don't care. Just go make yourselves useful in some place where you three won't get in the way." Leaving the idiot triplets to whatever it is they do, I continued to the empty foyer out to the equally vacant veranda where I found it to be raining, as I expected it to be. "I hope this rain hasn't proved problematic for Mr. Tanaka. If he didn't arrive safely, the Young Mistress would be quite displeased." As if on cue, a familiar carriage pulled out of the trees down the drive. "Ah, perfect." Four chestnut horses brought the handsome carriage to a full stop outside the fine manor. As any proper butler should do, I snatched up a black umbrella to shelter our guest from the chilling downpour and opened the door for him. "Welcome to the Sans'Ame estate," I said warmly with a bow, "Please, follow me." When I straightened myself out, I realized that there were not one, but three people filing from the carriage. There was Mr. Tanaka, who we had been expecting, but there was also a young boy with an eye patch followed by a tall, devilishly handsome butler. _This child must be the Earl of Phantomhive. This butler… I think he's a demon. No, he's _definitely_ a demon. Those red eyes…_

"Are you a servant here?" The child earl asked bluntly.

"Yes, My Lord. I am Lady Celestia's butler, Lin Sans'Ame," I responded politely, as one did to a noble.

"Take me directly to her. I need to discuss business with her immediately."

"Yes, My Lord."


	2. Her Butler, Inqusitive

The Young Mistress and Lord Phantomhive had plenty to discuss, from stuffed bear dolls to the most recent disturbances in the criminal underworld of England. I quickly understood why the young earl had decided to speak to Lady Celestia in person, rather than merely sending Mr. Tanaka. Since he frequently had his servant request information on various cases from the Young Mistress, I was well aware of the dark dealings and bloody jobs the boy was assigned by Her Royal Highness. But what could have possibly be so important that he felt the need to come here himself?

"Excuse me for interrupting, Young Master, My Lady, but should I fetch some tea for you? This discussion looks like it may take longer than intended," said the earl's butler, interrupting my thoughts.

"That sounds wonderful," replied my happy Mistress, "what do you think, Ciel?" I was surprised that Lord Phantomhive didn't reprimand her for addressing him so informally, but I remembered that My Lady told me that they had played together frequently as children, and had remained in each other's good graces since then.

The boy simply answered, "Fine." After thinking for a moment, he continued, "Have your butler accompany Sebastian. She can show him around your mansion, if that's alright?" Lady Celestia just nodded her approval, not wasting any words. Lord Phantomhive dismissed us from the room and the other butler, Sebastian, and I left immediately.

Silently we walked through the mostly uninhabited mansion, the long, horrible scar that slashed across my ribcage aching horribly. Scars are quite abnormal for a demon, but this one refused to heal properly. It was one of the only things that kept me tied to my past. I began to wonder if this mysterious butler was like me, a demon.

"Miss, we haven't been properly introduced," the butler named Sebastian broke the silence, "I am Sebastian Michaelis, butler to Earl Ciel Phantomhive."

"I am Lin Sans'Ame, butler to Lady Celestia Sans'Ame," I replied, "My mistress insisted that I use her surname."

Sebastian stared intently into my eyes for a moment, briefly lost, then smiled and continued onward. "You remind me of a woman I knew once," he told me, "She and I were very close. It was horrible for me when she died, but it was inevitable. You resemble her quite closely, although your eyes are a different color." Sebastian trailed off, a faint glint of sorrow in his garnet eyes.

Garnet. No normal person could possibly have eyes that deep hue of red. Any remnants of doubt were removed. "If you don't mind my asking, Sebastian, you are a demon, aren't you?"

He looked genuinely surprised at my inquiry. "Why, yes, I am," he confirmed, "Couldn't you tell? You are a demon too, correct?" Instantly I could tell that this man, no, this _demon_ had been alive much longer than I have, for he could probably sense one of our kind from quite a distance. Sadly, I, who had only been a demon for scarcely over one hundred and fifty years, could still hardly identify another demon when they were right in front of me.

I sighed, "It's true, I am, but I am very young. I have only spent around a century and a half this way, so I am practically a child. You, on the other hand, are much older, no?" I shot my blue-lavender eyes in his direction, locking onto the bright garnets that I hadn't realized were still trained on me.

"Yes, I am several times older than you, Lin. It seems you've developed quite quickly, for a demon so young," I was told, "Usually, at your age, it is nearly impossible for a demon to successfully form a contract with a human. Under normal circumstances, a demon will simply devour any soul that they see until they are much older. A contract is out of the question." Without noticing we had slowed down considerably. "That reminds me, demons eventually develop an animal form which allows them to appear in front of a human target. What are you?"

"My animal form?" I hadn't expected a question like that, but I replied anyway, "I'm a cat."

"Celestia, I'm sure you've heard of the crisis in London as of late," the young earl addressed the equally young Lady Celestia, "I was hoping you would be able to give me some information on the case, as you usually do."

The blue-eyed girl sighed sadly, "So this isn't a social visit after all. I was hoping you had finally decided to come calling without wanting information. Oh well," Lady Celestia left her plush armchair to sift through a drawer in her dark cherry wood desk. She pulled out an envelope sealed with read wax. "If you're referring to Jack the Ripper, this is everything I've put together on it. For so many murders, there's a surprisingly small amount of evidence." Gracefully, she settled back into her armchair and gave Ciel the envelope. The boy broke the hardened wax and sifted through the paper contents. "I'm sorry I can't give you more, Ciel."

He shook his head, "Don't be. This might prove valuable later. Thank you, Celestia." Said girl grinned with a pleased twinkle in her bright blue eyes. "You're always begging me to stay for a social visit with you, so would you like me to stay for a while?"

Celestia smiled even brighter at Ciel, "I would love it if you would stay, Ciel!" As if on cue, the two butlers walked in through the door carrying tea and brioche prepared earlier that day.

"My Lady, My Lord," Lin addressed the two, "We have prepared Lady Grey tea and brioche for your enjoyment."

"Thank you, both of you," Celestia replied, turning back to Ciel, "How long would you like to stay?"

The boy beckoned his butler to ask, "Sebastian, how does my schedule look until I leave for London?"

"At the moment, My Lord, there is nothing planned up until your departure in three days," Sebastian responded plainly.

"Alright. Celestia," Ciel returned his attention to the young lady, "This is your home. How long would you like me to stay here with you?"

The girl seemed flustered, but her loyal butler came to her rescue with a perfectly worded response, "If you have three days, why don't you stay for two days, then leave on the third? How does that sound, My Lord?" Celestia shot Lin a brief glare for addressing Ciel instead of herself.

"That sounds fine. Is that alright with you, Celestia?"

"Oh, um," she ineloquently stammered for a moment, "Yes, of course! Lin practically stole the words right out of my mouth! Anyway, Lin, please show Lord Phantomhive to where he'll be staying, please."

Lin bowed gracefully. "Yes, My Lady."

_Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but high school caught me a little off-guard. Also, this is fairly irrelevant, but I now have a boyfriend (I'm not forever alone anymore!) and his name actually happens to be Sebastian. In any case, I plan on updating a bit quicker next time, but no guarantees, since I tend to suffer extreme writer's block. As I always say, If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or just want to say "hi," please post as many as you like on the comments page for this story. I love hearing what you all think! _


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